, 1887-01-13
Willard S Second Coming.
HIS HEI"EARA=GE IN Wall STREET.
EEw YORK.


Wall street was rung down on the
panic OF 1854. Henry Willard stood in
the arena Of finance monetary glad
iator ruined in fortune and br1Een il
body. His power had been seUSIhly
lessened in the preceding year. lie
Is no longer At the head of great cor
PoratiOGs: his name : no longer
tower OF financial strength. Two
years have passed. and now the scene
Is in an office far up II one Of the great
business palaces. which are the Won
der Of New York. the modern Nine
vah OF more than Assyrian wealth
and spleni0v. Il : one oi the upper
stories q the great Mills buildings
that Henry Willard sits waiting for
the curtain Il r-s2 CD another lcr IN
the business v.ay which shall not end
IN disaster. He : already busy with
his ambitions plans He IS under
stood - hive the support Of power
iu! syndicate # Berlin bankers, and
there a-a 10. z few who predict that
he Viii reEa!l al his former prestige.
In 1854
HE WAS : FARM HAND;
In 1880 lie was worth $5GOG,00O He
has had an interesting career. He J.
now - years old. He was graduated
IN 1853 from the University of Mu-
Mich. Bavaria. after having passed
through the elementary school Of
Jweibrukrn. the small German town
where he was born; he had, previous
to taking his University course, spent
a year III the French school at Pfals-
bOurg, in Lorraine. He suddenly
left Munich, induced his father to
give him a certain sum OF money, and
then hurried to America, designing
to settle with his uncle on a farm III
Illinois. He landed III New York
and dazzled by the financial oppor.
tunities of the metropolis. he tried
that short cut 10 wealth which lures
so many thousands to ruin, which
seems a primrose path to happiness,
but is full of pitfalls and manning
traps. Young Willard met with mis-
fortune, and, dispirited by his re
verses, set out for Belleville, St.
Clair county, Illinois, whore he re
mained several years assisting his
uncle In the care of the farm. In
the winter evenings he wrote articles
for the German papers OF the old
country and also at st. Louis. He
was soon able to command reInuncr-
ton for his newspaper work, and
this was che turning point in his
career
TuF PRESS MADE HIM THE POWER
That he subsequently becmae. He
soon settled in st. Louis and increased
his knowledge of English. He wrote
puffs of western cities for eastern
newspapers. In 1858 he reported the
Lincoln-Douglas campaign for TIE
New York Tribune and Herald. IL
1861 he became a war correspondent
for the New York Herald. At the
first attack on Charleston he was OF
board OF Commodore Dupont's flag
ship. and as the only northern jour
nalist present won some reputation
by his account of the engagement
He came north on leave of absence
and made the acquaintance OF that
old Roman of the abolition movement
William Lloyd Garrison, who invited
him to his home Ill Boston. There
young Willard, whose sympathies were
all with the north, met the daughter
of the great agitator, Fanny Garrison
i beautiful and accomplished girl
for whom he conceived warm attach
ment and whom a few years later he
married. Amid all his reverses oI
| fortune Mr.. Willard has had the con
ISOLATION of a charming family, Il De
voted wife and interesting children
Henry Willard real name Is Heinrich
Hilgard, and he is said to have
changed it for several reasons, one 0!
which IS that like Carl Schurz, and st
many other Germans who have come
to this country, he had been compro-
missed by political intrigues in Ger
many, and wished to conceal hi:
identity in case he should ut any tint
return to that country. He is tall
well proportioned, and OF somewhat
pOrtly build, and dark complexiopet
save stern grey eye. His manner.
show that be has the German phlegn
in Il strange union with American
nervousness. He is often abrupt tc
rudeness, and is particularly xngrate
| full to the press, to which he owes his
prominence. Yet he is considered il
the main man of kindly impulses
and in Wall street his manners art
agreeable. He looks like a general
Force of chara ter is plainly stamped
on the broad face, and his head is tha
of q man OF exceptional intelligence
| He Is born leader, a natural organ
izer. AS a correspondent at Washing,
ten after the war he was not q success;
in the journalistic sense; lie had NJ
particular bent as a newspaper man
and he was not good writer. But
he was natural hnancier, and while
in Washington he made the acquaint
ance of men OF wealth, who aided hiu
in his campaign for fortune. IL,
secured for a syndicate the possession
of the Oregon Railway & Navigation
Company. He in time acquired con
troll of the Northern Pacific. TheI
he organized corporation which was
to do nothing but build railroads anc
lease them to the Northern Pacific
road. This was called the Oregon
1ranscontinental Company. 1t wa;
also TO do the banking for the North
ern Pacific and negotiate the sale o.
its bonds, whereby it made large sum;
in commissions. At the height OF hi.
power Willard was president of the
Northern Pacific, Oregon Transcon-
tinental, Oregon Railway and Navi.
CATION, Oregon Improvement, anc
Oregon & California Companies. He
and his friends some years ago were
heavily loaded with Northern Pacific
securities. 1t vas their plan to drive
the golden spike oh that road at {
certain date, boom the stock and
bonds and unload them on the public
But Wall street became suspicious
There was too much furore, too much
junket:ng, champagne and huhbub
Moreover, the drift of the market
from 1881 was downward. Their in
ability TO unload caused them to lose
credit; they found it difficult to secure
loans, and Mr. Willard in 1888 deemed
it advisable to resign as president OF
the Oregon Transcontinental and the
Oregon Navigation Company, where
upon in one day, these stocks and the
Northern Pacific advanced to IC
per cent, which must have been gall
ing to the man who had born the